Source: Russell Webster, 630-362-2485, webster@k-state.edu
News release prepared by: Megan Wilson, 785-532-6415, media@k-state.edu
Friday, March 14, 2008
K-STATE STUDENT EARNS AWARDS AT RECENT PSYCHOLOGY MEETING
MANHATTAN -- Kansas State University's Russell Webster, graduate student in psychology, Shorewood, Ill., won two awards for his poster presentation at the recent Society for Personality and Social Psychology annual meeting in Albuquerque, N.M.
Webster won the Graduate Student Poster Award and a Diversity Fund Travel Award.
Webster's poster explored the terror management processes on sexual prejudices.
Terror management theory deals with the idea that human beings must continuously manage their fear of death using defense mechanisms. The primary defense mechanism, Webster said, is the development and adherence to cultural worldviews. Research has shown that when people are reminded of their own mortality, a process known as mortality salience, they increase their negative reactions to individuals or groups who violate or threaten their worldviews, he said.
Under the supervision of his adviser, Don Saucier, K-State assistant professor of psychology, Webster applied terror management to sexual prejudice, or prejudice based on sexual orientation. He found that following morality salience, the difference between heterosexual men's and women's sexual prejudice scores increased, with men becoming more negative and women more positive. Webster said that they also did additional research and found that the changes in sexual prejudice were rooted in the heterosexuals' gender role beliefs.
The Graduate Student Poster Award is given to students whose poster presentation reflects excellence in research, clarity in presentation and personal knowledge in a discussion with judges. Three awards are given at each poster session. Webster received first place for the first poster session at the conference. As part of the award, he also received an award certificate, $100 in monetary funds and complimentary research support in the form of $800-$900 in computer software and hardware.
The Diversity Fund Travel Award provides up to $500 to a qualified graduate student to attend the annual Society for Personality and Social Psychology meeting. Award winners attend a special reception at the meeting where they have the chance to meet and talk with eminent diversity scholars.
Webster plans to continue his research on terror management and gender prejudice through additional studies and hopes to publish his findings soon.